The slashes from Rise's claws came with dreadful consequences for the undead. Each slash was similar to how Mordant would wrap his claws in darkness mana and send out long ranged attacks with them. But when it came to Rise, she added light elemental mana. These attacks easily cut through the undead like butter.
This led Walker to immobilize the three undead heavy guardians by using the white lightning slash. It was enough to cut their knees in the small spaces of the armor they wore. Stopping them temporarily was perfect for lining them up. Rise just had to slash at them and end their lives while the earth mages came behind to seal them for as long as possible.
The added bonus of Alice's song became a buff that slightly gathered around every soldier as they began facing the mummified soldiers. It was enough to both weaken the undead struck and help the other replenish their energy.
The flow of mana was a little harder to grasp since the darkness mana in this place was overlapping with what the group wanted to handle. Not that it was an issue for those that use the darkness mana. Once Fel empire angel was standing out significantly when it came to what Walker and Mordant could see.
From what they had learned, the angel that was directly working under Ethan was known as a shadow whisperer. It was a mage that dealt with the darkness mana of shadows specifically. While he was not able to hide in shadows or move through them, he was able to do similar things as Alice but much smaller.
The whispers he used were embedded with his mana. At a word he could create spikes of darkness from his shadow that pierced over twenty of the mummified worshippers. Even greater than that was when he used his skill to raise multiple dark walls made of other soldiers' shadows. He was both offensive and defensive in this area because he had more mana to manipulate than he normally would.
He had been sent because Ethan needed someone to counter some of the lesser mummified priests' darkness mana. Yet, now that he was here, he was showing off the strength of the Fel empire very well. So much so that a lot of the dragonkin and mages had begun working with him. His support was perfect for weakening the undead that were grouping up and trying to push in to the soldiers' formations.
Midnight was also using her abilities in the shadows to her advantage. She had been able to tear through the undead very well by replicating Mordant and Rise's use of claw attacks. What had surprised Walker was when she took her dragonkin form as well and still manipulated the mana around her claws. But what truly took his breath away was when she used one claw with light elemental mana and one with darkness elemental mana.
It was easy to see that this had come from Onyx. She and Onyx were very close. To her, Onyx was her little brother. But when it came to elemental mana, Onyx was the boss. He could control darkness and light elemental manas together within his body to feed himself and to battle. Therefore, it would only make sense that she learned from him. It was the same way that he had learned from her in battle. To put force where it was needed and to sneak through the shadows better. They had both worked together to become stronger in these respects.
All Midnight had needed were examples to follow. The two elemental dragons with her were royal dragons thought to be at the very top of what they could do in their own elemental affinities. The light and the darkness opposed one another but had worked well together before. Midnight used her past experiences and those she watched before her eyes to unlock skills she would naturally learn sooner.
This made a very impressive show as Midnight struck out against the undead again and again. The wings on her back flapped out pushing some wind as well, knocking multiple mummified worshippers down or in to a stumble. This gave her the freedom to attack over and over without losing her pace. Let alone being stuck by a single undead.
The attacks from above gradually died down. A silence that made everyone feel shivers slowly crept over them. "This doesn't feel right." Su had rejoined the group and was watching the surroundings. There were no undead around coming from buildings or even trying to group together. The only undead in the distance seemed to be retreating from the area toward the largest pyramid which the army would be going toward next.
Before Walker could speak back to Su, a rumble began. The entire ruins seemed to shake slightly as darkness mana surged around them. The entire ruin was in chaos around them as the mana seemed to be manipulated by an unseen being. Runes lit up here and there as the mana surged. But suddenly a cracking sound stopped it all.
A set of runes along the nearest building appeared to have shattered due to weakness. This was the case over many different areas which had stopped any control over the entire ruined city. While that made many breathe a sigh of relief, it also presented an issue.
"I can not halt that control. The runes around are able to bolster whatever controls that mana. I have a lot of control over darkness, but even with a grand elemental spirit as my backing, we can not forcefully remove whatever that was." Mordant put a nail in the coffin by saying that. Everyone understood that royal dragons were powerful. Yet even he couldn't stop that and take over control.
"That has to be whatever impurities seeped through. That wasn't only darkness. The feeling that chilled us all was worse. It was death. While weak, it stopped my light for a second. That is what controls all of those undead." Rise had sharper senses as a light affinity dragon. However, it appeared that everyone with light affinity had sensed that most of all.
"So basically, you're saying that Ignus and I just bombed those undead constantly just to have it do nothing? That whatever undead death darkness monster thing is in there can stop purifying, raise more undead, and then ignore our attacks?" Remey appeared to be more than unhappy with what she had heard. She and Ignus might have just returned to the group a moment ago, but they both looked angry.
"That is exactly the issue. That monster is our target. Mordant can weaken its control of darkness. Rise can use her strength to deal with whatever guards it has. Ignus and I will burn it to ash. That is all we need to do. The rest should destroy more runes." Ventus saw a clear way to make them get the upper hand. Her calm thinking and flow of battle strategy never ceased while they fought.
"Then that's what we do. All the soldiers will spear out on their groups and begin destroying runes. It looks like we have some distance to cover until we can get to the pyramid there. That means we have a lot of undead to fight." Walker's eyes turned to the chain quest next.
Chain quest: mummified curse- second link
Requirement: descend to the true ruined city of the false death god and begin the invasion.
Reward: 1000 experience for every undead trapped, 5 heroic points for every undead trapped, small insight on manas, third link.'
'The second link has been completed.
Chain quest: mummified curse- third link
Requirement: the runes around the mummified ruins are causing the undead to rise, repair themselves, and worse. Destroy the runes to weaken all the undead.
Reward: 300 experience for every rune destroyed, 2 heroic points, insight on rune formations.'
The chain quest seemed to be helping them understand mana and runes so that they could handle the issues around. But for the moment that the invasion started and the undead were forced back, they had all gained something.
The reward to have insight on elemental manas was different for everyone. While only a small insight, everyone felt that they were slightly closer to what they had been training. That was why Midnight had so easily brought together the light and darkness claw slashes during battle. They had already jumped in to battle.
For the others, these insights just smoothed out their training. While some soldiers had been close to a breakthrough in understanding already, it had been the last little bit they needed. Now the army would be able to use their skills more efficiently in the longer battles toward the pyramid itself. Towards the source of the undead and the issues they faced.
"Walker, I will need you to help me out here. I have an idea." Gil just needed to ask, it was clear that he had gained a lot more from an insight on mana than expected. Especially since he was preparing his daggers. It meant only one thing.
….
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